(no subject)

[stolenmilkcrate.livejournal.com]

The Greater-Eared Dragon (colloquially - and quietly - nicknamed Dumbo Dragons by taxonomists) was developed, rather by accident, by a group of wizards looking to create the perfect pet out of the wild dragon. Instead, however, of creating a pony-like beast that your child could ride into the sky, with small teeth and hardly any flame at all, the evolutionary dead end that was the Greater-Eared Dragon had pitifully inadequate wings and ears so large they were often tripped on.

For some reason, wizards being who they were and completely unable to stop meddling, allowed Greater-Eared Dragons back into the wild to breed willy-nilly.

Tango was one of a clutch of many offspring for one such Greater-Eared Dragon. Blue of hue and creamy of belly as he was, Tango's "cousins," all normal flying dragons, would make jokes at his expense, telling him that it was a perfect shame he would never be able to kiss the sky as they could, because he would blend right in.

The little Greater-Eared Dragon, not one to allow poor breeding to get in his way, made the decision that what he lacked in one area could be made up for with another. He began to spend hours a day, in private, exercising his muscles. He would fly, he told himself, flexing his ears magnificently. He would show them all...



"Oh, hi! Thanks for noticing me. Not a lot of people do," the little blue creature buzzes melodically up from the hollow tree-stump. The voice is like small chimes, far away, on an only-slightly-breezy day. Soothing, comforting.

At first glance, it appears to be a hummingbird, but on second thought, it has a tail like a lizard. On the third hand, it's blue with flecks of gold and green. And... it smiles.

"Don't be afraid," it rings. "I'm not a monster. Well, not really a proper monster, anyway." Its demeanor as it flitters around your head is almost apologetic. "I was supposed to be, you see, but it turns out that when you're a wizard, and you want to invent a creature to command respect, mixing dragon scales with fairy braids is the absolute last thing you should do. The intent was to make an animal with the cunning of the fae and the strength of the dragon. Instead, you get... well..." and the creature's blue face takes on an embarrassed hue. It points over its shoulder to the four buzzing wings on its back as it lands on your forearm. They are like pools of marbles and pure sea water, with shining pearls in their depths. You've never seen anything so beautiful.

"Anyway," it concludes, "I was quite in trouble from the start. How am I supposed to intimidate anyone with the name 'N'hthan Speshell'?"

You can make no reply, for if you do, you will surely giggle.

"Now," N'hthan Speshell mutters, "if the wizard had mixed dragon spit with fairy snot, that would have been another story entirely..."


Auren was laughed a lot as a hatchling. "Look at those ears!" all of the other creatures would chortle. "Bigger than elephants'!" "Bigger than an elephant's ears, or bigger than a whole elephant? Hoo hoo! I think it's the latter!" And so it went.

However, Auren only smiled.

His neck appendages - which were not, in fact, ears, but were actually beautiful frills - were body parts whose main purpose was to help him keep cool on very hot days.

On the third awful day of a particularly nasty summer, when so many other creatures were withering from the heat, Auren sat serenely fluttering his frills on a rock just inside of the sparse shade, looking for all the world as if he were floating in the cool current of a stream. As small creatures passed him, they caught the delightful Auren-made breeze, the only motion in the air on the still and baking afternoon.

Soon, Auren was surrounded by countless small and not-so-small animals, lounging in the breeze of his frills. Those who had mocked him touched his knee or his snout or his tail apologetically, ashamedly.

On the fourth day of summer, all of Auren's original detractors surrounded him; Auren was brought gifts of shining rocks and cups of rare nectars and precious long-stored fruits. These gifts, he shared with all those gathered.

And Auren only smiled. Not the contemptuous smile of one who knows he is above all others, and not the haughty smirk of one who knows he has done good by his fellow creatures... but the genuinely contented smile of one who is satisfied with his lot in life, even if it has included the occasional ribbing.

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All from polymer clay and other bits. Thanks for looking at my big-eared, big-frilled, nothing-special critters :)